Cookies with a moisture content above about 6% by weight are usually soft but cohesive. To produce cookies which retain enough moisture to be classified as soft cookies, numerous humectants have been used. Exemplary thereof are fructose, dextrose, invert sugar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, glycerine, raisins, raisin pastes, etcetera. Without the use of such humectants, cookie doughs which contain sufficient water to compensate for volatilization during baking: (1) do not exhibit sufficient cohesiveness for forming into pieces on conventional commercial scale cookie forming equipment, (2) exhibit raw flavor or color qualities, and (3) most importantly, lose their soft texture within a week or within a few days even when properly packaged in air-tight packaging.
Liquid humectants such as high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, glycerin, sorbitol, and molasses are readily dispersed through a dough to provide a homogeneously soft texture in the cookies baked from the humectant containing dough. However, these liquid humectants increase the adherent properties or "stickiness" of cookie doughs. Sticking or adherence of the dough to rotary cutters, reciprocating cutters, cutter aprons, oven belts, and wire cutters place an upper limit on their use in producing soft cookies on a commercial scale which have extended shelf stability.